Monday, 26 May 2014

Poutine Invasion

It’s spreading! Arm yourselves with forks and as
many paper napkins as you can gather! No, it’s not anything as sinister as an
invasion of killer bees, but get ready because poutine has crossed the border
from Canada into the U.S. and it will certainly be making its way to your town.
The question is not if, but when.

If you live in a northern border state, or an area
where Canadian retirees like to winter, you may see this strange dish appear on
local menus. But believe it – poutine is poised to be everywhere sooner or
later. Pronounce it poo-teen or get
fancy with a bit of a French Canadian twist and ask for poot-seen because this messy snack originally comes from dairy
country in the province of Quebec.

I remember the first time I learned of poutine’s
existence. Back in 1986, I was visiting a boyfriend in his home town, a
francophone community in northern Ontario, and I spied poutine on a cafe menu.
“What on earth is that?” I asked. He
was amazed that I hadn’t heard of it before. It was very common in areas with a
large French speaking community, but completely unknown where I was living in
southern Ontario, a five hour drive from where my boyfriend lived. He explained that it was basically french
fries, cheese and gravy. My first reaction was yuck! I didn’t try any that day.

There’s more to poutine than that cursory
description. There must be, otherwise
why all the excitement? Start with good fries. Nice big, chunky potatoes deep
fried to deep brown on the outside, while remaining soft on the inside. The
minute they hit the plate, drop a generous handful of fresh cheese curds on top
and drown it all in a not-too-thick, peppery, brown gravy and serve immediately.
It sounds like a bit of a swamp, I know, and you will need those napkins I mentioned.

Hold the phone – what are cheese curds? It wasn’t until I was discussing poutine with a
cousin in Germany last week that I discovered that the eating of cheese curds
as a snack is also very regional. Outside of Quebec, Ontario and a few other
adjacent areas, curds are simply part of the cheese making process and nothing
more. The best curds for poutine purposes are the freshly made cheese solids
from white cheddar. Ideally, they should squeak
when you bite into them.

Well, I married my boyfriend and he moved to my city
just outside of Toronto. It was probably a good 15 years later on before
poutine was seen for sale anywhere in this part of the province. Burger King
was actually one of the first chains to see the attraction and place it on
their regular menu, where it remains today. It is interesting to witness the slow
southward migration of a regional dish and the mainstreaming of it, much like
what happened with the hamburger and the pizza. Poutine first appeared in
Quebec in the 1950s, was found in northern Ontario by the 1980s, arrived in
southern Ontario around 2000 and has broken into more than a few American
states now. It would appear there is no stopping poutine.

Poutine is not a health food. Poutine has been
described as a “heart attack on a plate” by some, and is not meant for daily
consumption I would say. There is great debate over the true meaning of the
word, but legend has it that when asked to top some fried potatoes with curds
and gravy, Fernand Lachance, purported inventor of said dish, complained that
it would “faire une maudite poutine” – make a damn mess! Messy, salty, not
dairy free, loaded with grease, so why eat it? That question can only be
answered after you try it.

I took a bit of a poutine tour in my city this week.
I clogged my arteries in the name of foodie science. Next week, I should
probably go on a garden salad tour to achieve some balance, but for research
purposes I visited three local eateries known for serving a fairly decent
poutine and dug in. I took my family along with me. Funny – at the first stop I
had three teenagers with me, only one at the second place and I dined alone for
the last one.

We began at a newly opened chain restaurant called
Smoke’s Poutinerie. If someone can open a restaurant devoted solely to poutine,
you know poutine has hit the big
time. Can you really serve just poutine?
Sure you can, if you offer a bazillion different extra toppings for it. I got
the traditional poutine with vegetarian gravy. One of my sons opted for a
topping of double smoked bacon, while my older son went for chicken fajita,
which comes with grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, sour cream and salsa.
Calorie count unknown – didn’t dare ask!

A few days later, the younger son and I were looking
for lunch again and we popped into another chain restaurant, this one a burger
place with an industrial vibe, called The Works. The young fellow had a
hamburger with onion rings, while I ordered just poutine, as I wasn’t very
hungry. Well, joke’s on me because their poutine is simply huge! It comes in a
metal bucket, for pete’s sake. It was
quite tasty, no doubt about that, much the same flavour wise as what we ate at
Smoke’s. I took half of it home for later!

With all my dining partners and once eager
assistants all poutined out, I headed downtown one more time, this time alone.
I stopped at a brightly painted green and yellow box of a place, a chip wagon
called Jerry’s Fries. Jerry’s has been there probably 20 years now, dishing out
fish and chips at first and adding the poutine later. They must have mastered
it because as I was waiting for my food, I encountered a French Canadian
gentleman and his two little girls, who had just ordered and extra large
poutine. He told me that this was his go-to poutinerie. He knew that the
potatoes used by Jerry were locally grown and that the cheese curds came from
Quebec. Even the teenage boy doing all the chopping and frying inside the booth
was enthusiastic and informative.

I carried my overflowing cardboard box of yummy
stuff a few blocks down to the waterfront and found a vacant picnic table for
myself next to the sparkling lake water. The francophone man had assured me
that I would like this poutine the best and, after a few bites, I began to
believe he was right. I can’t quite put into words why this was the best tasting poutine I had sampled, but perhaps it
was a combination of the fresh, authentic ingredients along with the small
business type of care that went into the food. By strange coincidence, a few
minutes after I began eating, a man on a bicycle came along and sat down on the
rocks by the water and began to play a concertina. Thank you, mystery man, for
the Québécois atmosphere music.

*First published at http://www.sogoodblog.com/2014/05/20/poutine-a-canadian-favorite/ on May 20, 2014 as a guest blog.